Bethesda

From Aramaic בֵּית חַסְדָּא‎ (bēṯ ḥasdā, “House of Grace”).

• IPA^(key): /bə.θɛz.də/

Bethesda

1. (biblical) A pool in Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament.
2. An unincorporated census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.

Bethesda (plural Bethesdas)

1. (poetic) Any location whose waters are supposed to have curative properties.
   • 1903, Thomas De Witt Talmage, Richard S Rhodes, Evils of the cities

     ...those who are afflicted with rheumatic, neuralgic, and splenetic diseases, go, and are cured by the thousands. These Bethesdas are scattered all up and down our country, blessed be God!

   • 1978, Garry Wills, Values Americans live by

     Time was when this Bethesda too was curative, a sweet oasis in a parched and driven city. The day we went we found the fountain had been shut off.